Martin Clunes: 'I would hate to put my feet up'
An energetic entourage surrounds Martin Clunes as he emerges from his remote Dorset farmhouse to greet visitors – five souls in all, bustling about and frequently throwing the actor adoring glances.
This isn’t a crew of flunkies: it’s the five canine members of Martin’s current menagerie and they’re quite a diverse gang.
Making their presence felt at the front of the pack are six-month-old Jack Russell pups John and Murray, who leap high in the air to show off their acrobatics and sniff and lick guests.
They’re followed by black mottled Cocker Spaniel Heidi Mae and her son, golden Cocker Bob Jackson (both blind). Fourteen- year-old black Labrador and former guide dog Laura – who was recently adopted by Martin and his wife, TV producer Philippa Braithwaite, to see out her retirement – sedately brings up the rear.
“Calm down, lads,” Martin chides John and Murray, who clearly have no intention of heeding their master.
“They’re quite a handful,” he confesses, with a humorous eyeroll. Martin’s dogs are just a fraction of his menagerie. He also has six and a half horses (the half being a tiny Shetland pony, Timothy), two cats, nine hens and three cows.
While clearly in his element, Martin’s upbringing was a far cry from the world he now inhabits. His childhood home was in Wimbledon, south London, though he relished roaming on the Common with his friends as well as frequent visits to his granny and grandpa’s house in Sussex. “There was a gate into a field with cattle and there was a stream, where we used to make dams. I’ve loved streams ever since,” he says.
But it was after marrying Philippa in 1997 and setting up their production company Buffalo Pictures that their shared passion for the natural world really took off, largely thanks to their first dog, a cocker spaniel they named Mary Elizabeth.
“She was the root dog for the life we live now,” says Martin. “We had Mary Elizabeth when we lived in London before our daughter Emily was born. We weren’t allowed dogs in our office or flat, but she was so little as a pup, I shoved her up my jumper [to take her into the buildings] and when she got bigger, she was so cute, no one could say ‘no’ to her. She was hysterical; people would come in and pitch their dreary scripts to us and she was there snoring or rifling through their handbags,” Martin recalls. “We got used to having a dog that slept on the pillows between us. She was absolutely central to us as a couple.”
Once they had their daughter, Emily, who’s now 25 and studying to be an equine vet at university – “which should prove very handy for future vets’ bills!” – Martin and Philippa moved to Powerstock in Dorset. They spent several years in a “beautiful old vicarage”, before buying their current farm. “We’d never have considered a farm at the beginning, but Philippa and Emily were riders and we couldn’t find a field or a paddock to buy to keep horses, so, when this place came up, we took the plunge.”
They haven’t looked back. While Martin is often away filming, this is where his heart is. “I love the gentle hills and the small fields of Dorset. I also love how the hedgerows punctuate the land. From the hillside where our farm is, I can see who’s having a bonfire over about 200 square miles,” he says. “There’s an orchard over there that’s a joy to watch blossom. You can imagine this hasn’t changed much since Thomas Hardy’s time.”
Each time Martin arrives back at home after filming, he experiences the same comforting pattern. “First, the dogs welcome me. Then with one eye, I’ll see a catalogue of jobs I need to do and with the other eye, I’m clocking all the changes – plants coming into bud, or flowering, or changing colour, depending on the season.” Martin holds no resentment that living here involves a lot of hard work: “I would hate to just put my feet up. Maybe I like the tangibility of working outside because acting is a bit intangible,” he says. Tending the lawns is a current highlight, if not obsession. “I identify as a groundsman. There’s a sense of pride in looking after the grass. As I’ve been away a lot recently, it’s in a state, so I like that I need to work on that.”
For a while, Martin also thought he could operate a working farm, but he confesses now that he was naive to think it was possible. “We used to have about 200 ewes and more than 50 cattle, but we decided to sell them because I foolishly thought that I could make the farm wash its face and pay for itself. But we couldn’t – unless I had done it all myself and it was all I did. I might then just break even. Economically, it’s just too hard. While I can still make a living doing my first job, I’d better cling on to that a bit longer.”
Martin’s "first job" has recently involved shooting a film, Mother’s Pride – a tale of a failing pub and a family whose life is changed by brewing real ale – plus Out There, a six-part ITV drama series produced by Buffalo Pictures that has recently been on our screens. Martin plays a widower farmer who comes face to face with county lines drug dealing, which threatens to engulf the life of his teenage son. “It is a dark subject, but it goes on,” says Martin. “This is a drama rather than a public information film, but I hope it shines a light on the issue.”
On top of acting, Martin has also filmed a three-part documentary as himself, exploring the islands of the Atlantic, also due out on ITV this year: “That starts in São Tomé and Principe and goes up to Madeira and the Azores, then on to the Faroe Islands and we finish in Greenland.”
“Jammy” is how Martin describes his mix of acting and presenting work, as he loves the variety. “I did worry when I did the first documentaries that it would lessen my stock in my day job, but the viewing figures for Doc Martin didn’t drop, so I continued. I’d hate to relinquish them now as it’s such a privilege to go to these incredible places.”
On top of all that, Martin found time to write Meetings with Remarkable Animals, a non-fiction book, which came out at the end of last year. “It gave me the excuse to talk about my own animals, while also exploring heroic animals from around the globe and highlighting how they’ve helped people.” Martin found out about rats trained to detect landmines in Africa and pigeons who carried messages saving soldiers’ lives in the Second World War: “The stories I discovered blew my mind and the link across species, between man and beast – when it goes right, it’s pure magic.”
Meetings with Remarkable Animals by Martin Clunes (Michael Joseph, £22), out now. Out There is on ITVX
A look-back on Martin's life:
1961: ACTING FAMILY Born in Wimbledon, south London, the son of actor Alec Clunes and his wife Daphne
1989-1990: BIG BREAK Spotted by Harry Enfield in a play at Hampstead Theatre, London
1992-1998: COMEDIC TURN Stars in ITV sitcom Men Behaving Badly. Wins a BAFTA for Best Comedy Performance in 1996
1998: LOVE INTEREST Appears as Richard Burbage in hit movie Shakespeare in Love
2003-2005: ROMANTIC LEAD Cast in ITV comedy drama William & Mary
2004-2022: WHAT’S UP, DOC? Plays the title role in ITV Cornwall-set comedy drama Doc Martin
2008: MAN’S BEST FRIEND Brings out A Dog’s Life, a book delving into canine history
2013: FOR THE LOVE OF ANIMALS Narrates ITV documentary The Secret Life of Dogs. The Secret Life of Cats and The Secret Life of Babies come next
2016: ON THE ROAD Presents travel series Martin Clunes: Islands of Australia. Spin-offs include Islands of America and Islands of the Pacific
2024: COURAGEOUS CREATURES Publishes Meetings with Remarkable Animals, highlighting tales of pigeons carrying life-saving messages, mine-clearing rats and more
2025: FARMER DRAMA Stars as a farmer in crime drama Out There on ITVX
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